Clubhouse Insider Boston Red Sox News

Explaining why the Red Sox remain interested in Stephen Drew

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Another day closer to the start of spring training, another day that free agent shortstop Stephen Drew remains unsigned.

By now, surely, the Red Sox must be ready to move on, no?

On the contrary, the Sox still see value in re-signing Drew, assuming he authorizes agent Scott Boras to cease holding out for a lengthy multiyear contract. In a phone conversation Tuesday, third base coach/infield instructor Brian Butterfield noted that the Sox "still don't have a definitive answer" on whether 21-year-old rookie Xander Bogaerts will play shortstop or third base. And in discussing what the club would hope to get defensively from Bogaerts at shortstop, Butterfield described exactly what Drew provided last season.

"Shortstop is so demanding, and they get so many groundballs and there's so many times they're handling the ball, consistency becomes so important, especially if you're talking about a championship-caliber club," Butterfield said. "If you do have a young shortstop and he's going to be the guy -- and we still don't have a definitive answer on that -- he needs to mature quickly and become a consistent defender in order for us to be successful. The groundball that he can get to on time and on balance, you wan to get to a point where you know that runner is out. That's a consistent shortstop."

Sounds familiar, right?

Drew lacks the flash of, say, former Sox prospect Jose Iglesias, but he was remarkably reliable, committing only eight errors, tied for the second-fewest among regular shortstops last season.

"We've talked about this several times as a coaching staff: We'll take the tough, intelligent, unselfish guy that values the baseball 100 times over the more talented player if that flashy player doesn't value the baseball all the time," Butterfield said. "Stephen was the perfect role model. Xander was able to see it on an everyday basis with Stephen."

It's unclear whether the sides have made progress since Drew declined the one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer in November, although ESPN.com reported this week that the Sox have made a two-year offer. General manager Ben Cherington recently said the Sox "like the roster we have now," which features Bogaerts at shortstop and Will Middlebrooks at third base. And although he declined to offer specifics on where things stand with Drew, Cherington said, "I think the time that's being spent on talking about it publicly is not necessarily consistent with the time we’re spending on it."

On Tuesday, New York radio station WFAN reported that the Mets have made an offer to Drew, with host Mike Francesa saying, "I really think they're going to sign him." But several other media outlets, citing sources, quickly debunked the report.